Back in the Netherlands we got our first Television together, we bought it begin 2006. It is a JVC LT-37M60ZU which is a 37″ LCD Television and it is still a very good TV although you could see that over time television got better due to the innovation. In November we start to have some issues with the picture quality of the TV with purple stripes on the monitor which made us decide to look for something new.

Since we watch television via satellite we also have a setop-box in our living room. For more information about this see the following post (The TopField box we had in use was not a very stylish and good product. It got warm better to say really hot during operation and sometimes the picture froze and a reboot was necessary. There for it would be a good solution if we could have a television with a so-called DVB-S2 Tuner integrated which could also handle the CA-Module to encrypt the signal.

So that limited our choice a bit. For the size we had the limitation that it needed to fit on the TV-Closet which meant that it should not be wider then 125 cm. So with all that information in hand I started watching the possibilities and after the Consumer Electronics Show in January I had my wish list completed. The TV should have integrated Wireless LAN, 46″, LED-TV, DVB-S2 Tuner and important it should fit in our living room.

That left over 2 possibilities for us either the Samsung 46ES8090 or the Sony 46HX855. If it was just for the features the Samsung had one this battle but when we both checked out the Samsung in a store it looked cheap and the new ‘stylish’ stand wasn’t as nice as it looked at the pictures. So we decided to wait for the Sony and after reading reviews and seeing more pictures the Sony got our favor but we wanted to see it before we decide. The Sony was officially launched at the 10th of May so we needed to wait.

Samsung 46ES8090

Sony Bravia 46HX855

The Saturday after it was out we went to our local MediaMarkt which had one in the box but they didn’t want to show it, too bad for them since I probably would have ordered it right away. So later that day we decided to visit another MediaMarkt and on our way there we saw a Expert-TeVi which is a smaller electronics shop. We entered the store 2 minutes before closing and we saw, decided and bought the Sony for a great price.

After coming home I started to set up the TV and in less than 60 minutes I mounted the sound bar, cabled everything and setup everything. I was surpassed since I thought the satellite programming would take some time. But although it is a German Television it’s possible to set it to the Dutch regional settings which enables the FastScan functionality which CanalDigitaal uses. This sets the channels automagically in the right order. So setting up was easier than I imagined.

The days after I’ve played more with the SmartTV options and I know it aren’t the most important things on a TV but it’s just nice to control your TV with your iPhone or iPad, surf on the web and see tweets related to the program you are watching scrolling on your screen.

I was also able to reduce from 4 remote controls in the old situation (JVC, Samsung Home-Theather, TopField and AppleTV) to only one (Sony) in this new setup. I always hated the multiple controls but with HDMI-CEC this isn’t necessary anymore. Also I found out that we are able to use HbbTV. HbbTV stands for Hybrid Broadband Broadcast TV and combines a Digital TV connection with a Broadband Internet connections. It enables the use of watching special content and the quality is better than I expected on such a big screen.

So far we are both happy with the TV and we already start watching some of our Blu-Ray discs again because the image quality is a couple of times better than that what we had on our former TV. The shift from HD-Ready to FullHD really makes a difference. I hope we can enjoy watching movies on this TV at least as long as we did on the JVC, that’s should be somewhat like 6 years.

Two weeks ago we decided to buy a new camera body. And again it’s a Canon EOS dSLR which was the only thing we knew for sure before we started for a new camera. The cameras which I (Sander) looked at where the EOS 600D, 60D and the 7D. It should be a significant upgrade from our 400D and normally a upgrade would be buying the next expensive model. But this time it was different since the 400D is a camera released in 2006 and the 600D is released in 2011. That means 5 years of innovation.

The first thing I did was comparing the specifications which are important for us as hobby-photographers. We use the camera for both point and shoot and real photo-shooting during our trips which means that we might look into different features as usual. The things I looked into was the Sensor size, the image processor, the LCD-screen, Auto Focus, ISO sensitivity, the body, video capturing, live-view and the capturing presets. And off course the price for the body in respect to the features and specifications.

From the 3 cameras it seemed like it was a real close call between the cameras. Some real nice features like the variangle LCD-Screen, more presets for point and shoot and the lower weight of the body where not present in the 7D. Therefor the 7D seems to be a body which is more suitable for the semi-professional photographer which we are not. Knowing that including the higher price for the body which was about € 1275 (amazon.de) made it a simple choice, the 7D would not be it for us.

That left over the two bodies and as can be seen in the comparison below the difference in features and specification between the two are minimalistic. We decided to look at the bodies at electronic stores and we weren’t sure if the handling of the 60D was better due to the bigger size or made it more difficult due to the significant weight difference. So all this made us compare the prices. The EOS 60D was available for a price of €899 (amazon.de) and the EOS 600D for €559. This huge price difference made us choose the 600D instead of the 60D.

Sensor:
EOS 600D: 18,0 Megapixel, 22,3 mm x 14,9 mm CMOS
EOS 60D: 18,0 Megapixel, 22,3 mm x 14,9 mm CMOS
EOS 7D: 18,0 Megapixel, 22,3 mm x 14,9 mm CMOS

Image processor:
EOS 600D: DIGIC 4
EOS 60D: DIGIC 4
EOS 7D: Dual “DIGIC 4″

LCD-Screen:
EOS 600D: 3″, 1.040.000 dots, Variangle with Live View
EOS 60D: 3″, 1.040.000 dots, Variangle with Live View
EOS 7D:3″, 920.000 dots with Live View

Auto Focus:
EOS 600D: 9 ‘cross-type’ AF-points (f/2.8 in the center)
EOS 60D: 9 ‘cross-type’ AF-points (f/2.8 in the center)
EOS 7D: 9 ‘cross-type’ AF-points (f/2.8 in the center) + Micro Adjustment

ISO-Sensitivity:
EOS 600D: AUTO (100-6400), 100-6400
EOS 60D: AUTO (100-3200), 100-6400 (in 1 and 1/3 stops)
EOS 7D: AUTO (100-3200), 100-6400 (in 1 and 1/3 stops)

Body:
EOS 600D: Steel & Polycarbonate with fiber (570 gram)
EOS 60D: Alloy & Polycarbonate with fiber (755 gram)
EOS 7D: Magnesium (820 gram)

Video capturing:
EOS 600D: Full HD, 1080p
EOS 60D: Full HD, 1080p
EOS 7D: Full HD, 1080p

Capturing presets:
EOS 600D: 14 presets, 9 auto
EOS 60D: 14 presets, 9 auto
EOS 7D: 7 presets, 2 auto

We haven’t made a lot of pictures with the camera yet but we tried it in difficult light conditions. Compared to our 400D the 600D is much better. We can now make pictures without flash due better sensitivity of the processor. Here you can definitely see what 5 years of innovations can mean for electronics.

So far we are really happy with the camera and we can’t wait to take outside for lots of pictures.

As usual we made a lot of pictures from our last big trip. A part of them is available online but since I have Aperture on my iMac I started to create photo-books with pictures of the highlights of our trips. Something like this website but then in short and offline.

For our last trip to New York City I’ve created the photo-book last friday and it got delivered today. Okay, UPS was here already on Wednesday but we where not at home. As usual its great quality. I like the hardcover books better but for the price difference this books might be a better offer. Probably I like the other books better because they hold more pictures…

By clicking the picture below you can download a pdf-version of our newest photo-book. But please be aware that the size of the PDF is about 80 MB. There for I would suggest not to download it on a Mobile Connection but only on a regular internet connection at home.

I still need to do some catching up since the photo-books from our first Orlando trip back in 2008 and the Berlin trip from last year are not finished yet.

After visiting Florida three times since 2008 and our New York City trip from february/march this year we wanted to do visit the West Coast of the United States of America. We started looking for rates when we were still in New York but the rates were very high. That made us decide to wait with booking. And then KLM dropped the prices suddenly. At first the flight times where not so good with flight times from 20 hours or more. But when we could extend our vacation with one day we could have both a low price and very nice flight times.

The flight towards the United States goes from Nürnberg to Los Angeles with a stopover in Amsterdam. The total travel time takes 14 hours and 40 minutes. We will fly there with a Boeing 747-400.

Boeing 747-400

Flying back to Europe takes us even shorter with 13 hours and 30 minutes. But we do not fly with KLM but with Air France with a stopover in Paris. The long-haul flight will be in a Airbus 380-800. The biggest passenger airplane in the world. This will be Danielle’s first time in this huge plane and we will be sitting upstairs.

Airbus A380-800

Of course this trip is not about the flights but nice flights for low prices make the vacant ion better. at this moment we are planning the things we want to do. The next thing we will book would probably be the rental car. And we still have enough tim since the trip starts 6 months from now.

We woke up with a very sad feeling, the trip we started planning a year ago was about the end. We got a late checkout and this made it possible that we could sleep a little bit longer today. Which was not bad since we would miss a whole night due the time difference.

After packing most of our stuff in the suitcases (Danielle) and me writing the blog from yesterday we decided to go out for something to eat. We ended up eating a sub at a local Subway for and at a local Starbucks for a frappuccino. After breakfast/lunch we went back to the hotel room to pack the last items in the suitcases and the carry-on bags. I got the task to guess the weight of the suitcases and I guessed it would be just about right.

After packing the car we left the hotel in the direction of J.F. Kennedy Airport. Without looking at the navigation system how we would be directed we left in the direction of New York City. Soon found out that the drive was a very exciting one over the George Washington Bridge. Danielle told me that it was great to look around, I paid more attention to the traffic since it was busy on the road.

Soon we arrived at National Car Rental to return our Full-size SUV and everything was fine. Too bad we only got to drive this car for a couple days. I can imagine driving this car in one of our next USA trips for a longer period.

For the rental car facility we took the AirTrain to Terminal 1 where the Lufthansa check-inn is located. Danielle was not so sure about the suitcases but as I guessed earlier today we had one suitcase from 21,8 kilogram and the other one was 22,6 kilogram. It’s allowed to have 23 kilogram heavy suitcases. We went directly to the security line and waited near a power outlet to board our flight to Munich. The flight took of 10 minutes earlier then expected and due to the strong back wind the flight time was only 6:56 hours instead of the 8:15 on our flight plans. We landed in Munich at 6:40.

Due to the early arrival we could enjoy a breakfast at the Munich Airport and we were also sure that our suitcases would be on the same flight to Nürnberg. At 8:50 our flight took of and at 9:08 we both woke up from the rough landing on the runway. Since we woke up so abrupt we directly grabbed our coats and luggage jumped in the bus to the baggage claim and at the moment we walked in the suitcases arrived.

And as always at airports the officers from customs are really active if a flight arrives. But this time we were lucky again. They picked the man walking behind us for a check. We were happy and we rushed through the doors to get a ticket for the U-Bahn and the train. At 10:45 we arrived at home.

Danielle unpacked and I started checking my 200+ business mails. We were both directly back into reality. The next evenings I will spend uploading additional pictures to our Flickr account and Facebook.

Thanks for reading and commenting on our blog. It was a pleasure to read the comments every morning.